Cartoon Network Plays It Safe with Their 2015-’16 Lineup

“We Bare Bears,” created by Daniel Chong, will premiere on Cartoon Network in 2015.

At its annual network upfront, Cartoon Network unveiled a conservative 2015′-16 slate, taking an “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach. While the line-up is sparse on original series, it will please fans of its current schedule. The series Adventure Time, Clarence, Regular Show, Steven Universe, The Amazing World of Gumball, Teen Titans Go! and Uncle Grandpa will all continue with new episodes.

The network annnounced two new series for network broadcast: Daniel Chong’s We Bare Bears, which was previously announced at last year’s network upfront, and a reboot of The Powerpuff Girls helmed by Adventure Time art director Nick Jennings (and with no announced involvement from creator Craig McCracken). A new digital series, Mighty Magiswords by Kyle Carrozza, is also planned.

Following the success of its first mini-series Over the Garden Wall, the network has commissioned a second mini-series Long Live the Royals, based on a pilot created by Sean Szeles. There’s also plenty of “stunt” programming based around current shows, such as a Steven Universe/Uncle Grandpa cross-over, a Regular Show movie, and an Adventure Time mini-series.

Here’s a full rundown of what the network is planning for its upcoming season:

New Original Programming:We Bare Bears:We Bare Bears is a comedy about three bear siblings, named Grizzly, Panda and Ice Bear. Each episode follows their awkward attempts at assimilating into human society, whether they’re looking for food, trying to make human friends, or scheming to become internet famous. Created by Annie Award-winner Daniel Chong (Toy Story of Terror!), We Bare Bears is produced by Cartoon Network Studios.

The Powerpuff Girls: Slated for a 2016 launch, The Powerpuff Girls reboot will include an all-new television series produced by Cartoon Network Studios and a full licensing program slated to roll out across all regions. One of the network’s most enduring original series, The Powerpuff Girls, which debuted on Cartoon Network in 1998, earned two Emmy® Awards, five nominations and countless animation honors throughout its 78-episode run. The Powerpuff Girls centers on three sugar-coated superheroes—Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup —whose mission in life alternates between going to school, fighting crime, winning at hopscotch and saving the world before bedtime. Emmy and BAFTA award winner Nick Jennings (Adventure Time) is on board as executive producer.

Mighty Magiswords: From Kyle Carrozza comes Cartoon Network Studios first original digital series about a brother and sister team of “Warriors for Hire,” who go on hilarious adventures and crazy quests to collect magical swords.

New Original Crossovers, Movies and Specials:Long Live the Royals Mini-Series: Come join the royal family as they celebrate the yearly Yule Hare Festival. Parties and feasts will be a plenty as they struggle to balance ruling a kingdom and life as a typical family. A new mini-series from Emmy winner Sean Szeles (Regular Show).

Steven Universe/ Uncle Grandpa Crossover Special “Say Uncle:” Two of your favorite Cartoon Network series, Steven Universe and Uncle Grandpa, are joining forces for a special crossover episode! Watch as a long lost relative of Steven’s comes to town to aid him in unlocking the power of his mother’s gem!

Regular Show: The Movie: From the creators of the hit Cartoon Network series Regular Show, comes a time travelling long-form special. After accidentally creating a “Timenado,” slacker groundskeepers Mordecai and Rigby go back in time and battle an evil volleyball coach in order to save the universe… and their friendship.

Adventure Time Special Mini-Series: In this multi-part series, Finn and Jake face a new threat to Ooo when Princess Bubblegum’s experiment unleashes ghosts from Marceline’s past.

New Acquired Programming:Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race: In this action-filled, outrageous buddy comedy, 18 pairs of contestants are put to the mental, physical and emotional test in a frantic race around the world. They’ll push themselves and their partners to the limit, but only one team will arrive at the mat first and become the winners of one million dollars!

Transformers: Robots in Disguise: Summoned by Optimus Prime to save Earth from a new Decepticon threat, Bumblebee puts his light-hearted mettle to the test after assembling a rouge team of young Autobot action heroes.

Supernoobs: From creator Scott Fellows (Johnny Test) and DHX Media, Supernoobs chronicles the misadventures of four nerdy friends, who are mistakenly tasked with saving the world from an evil space virus.

Why not? Nick Jennings is one of the greatest artists in the business and could easily breathe a whole new life into the old franchise. It’s not like there is only one PPG series that exists, Powerpuff Girls Z and the comic series were both embraced by the fan community. Is it just because CN is the one backing it that you predict failure?

Adzl33t

New show from the man who made Johnny Test NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

I cant wait for the Regular Show movie and miniseries from Sean

Why have Steven Universe crossover with Uncle Grandpa, I’m pretty sure people would prefer an Adventure Time crossover

WHEN’S IAN JONES QUARTLEY LAKEWOOD PLAZA TURBO?

caseytube

I’m interested to see what else Cartoon Network does with this mini-series format. I myself was not much of a fan of Long Live the Royals, but I’m glad to see CN experimenting with it and using it to put a creators work out there even if it doesn’t deserve a full series (at least in my opinion.)

eli

While this mostly looks smart and some of the new shows and miniseries are sure to be watched at our house, I am HORRIFIED at the idea of an Uncle Grandpa / Steven U crossover… unless it’s an episode of Uncle Grandpa and not an episode of Steven Universe. Steven has got our family by the heartstrings but my kids actively despise Uncle Grandpa. To think that UG has some information about Rose for Steven basically shits all over all the careful storycraft the StevenU team has done so far. My kids will likely react to the news with similar horror as to when they found out Microsoft bought Minecraft. It’s like giving Evil Wheaton a cameo on Breaking Bad. WHYYYYYYYY

LOLWUT

Moneeeeeeeey…

AmidAmidi

Writing that CN doesn’t have a lot of original shows planned and chose to play it safe compared to earlier years is a relatively straightforward analysis of the announcement. If you enjoy the current line-up, then the news about this line-up is actually positive news.

L_Ron_Hoover

Why is a studio that has 5 very successful series expected to constantly create and reinvent itself? They’re obviously trying new things with online series and mini-series, why is that not credited to them?

CN has proven that they are expanding their horizons, taking a semester off to build up their finances so that they can find and fund new ideas is not something to judge them for. They aren’t suddenly “playing it safe” as you say. It’s an investment strategy, what’s wrong with that? Just wait till their next announcement and you can then either act like you never said this or just never acknowledge that your judgments from an outside perspective are usually wrong.

http://tresportfolio.tumblr.com/ Tres Swygert

I just wonder why does almost every animated show focus on “saving the day” when they go to feature film or direct-to-dvd/screen format….I mean, what is up with that?!

Mermaid Warrior

Big Damn Movie syndrome. When you’re making a movie for a TV show, you want to do something that the show wouldn’t normally do. If it’s just a long episode of the series, what’s the point of making it a movie? Raise the stakes.

I am disappointed that there is any kind of PPG reboot, and the lack of any involvement by Craig McC just solidifies my disinterest. If they use that atrocious 3D style from last year’s special, the show will officially join NuTrek in my entertainment circular file.

Fuzunga

It’s an interesting situation because Nick Jennings is first and foremost an artist, having been the art director on Rocko, SpongeBob, and Adventure Time. Therefore, I doubt he’d go with that god awful CG style over something traditional.

jhalpernkitcat

What became of “Wabbit?”

Also, I am still unsure of the PPG reboot–but we shall see. It could be good if it’s in the right hands.

Christian Harris

We Bare Bears: Not sure about it yet.

PPG reboot: Somewhat excited to see. I’ll keep an open mind about it.

Mighty Magiswords: Really excited to see! Been a fan of Kyle Carrozza’s work since Frog Raccoon Strawberry.

TD: The Ridonculous Race: Not excited to see. I enjoyed the first few
seasons of Total Drama, but now I’m getting tired of seeing it come back
with more seasons.

Transformers: Robots in Disguise: Not sure about it yet.

Supernoobs: Not excited to see. Scott Fellows REALLY eff’d up with Johnny Test, kinda hard for me to trust this show. But the art style seems to be a
little bit better than Johnny Test’s art style.

-__-

uncle grandpa steven universe crossover… what the hell -_-

Pencil

Steven Universe should not have a crossover episode. Suggest that Uncle Grandpa is in the same universe as Steven Universe practically ruins the world the show has created. If they really want an Uncle Grandpa crossover episode, do it with Gumball or Regular Show, but please not Steven Universe!

kkakuoku

In a way, it’s kind of sad (and illogical) to see fans of a CN show that openly addresses more mature themes to children in a respectable way actually morph into some of the most petty & immature people on the internet when their precious show crosses paths with a show they hate.

Jorge Devandas Mata

I’ve been having problems with those people since they announced the crossover.. Ironically, they’re becoming way more annoying than the helpfull goofy man they hate so much

Fluffydips

I actually think its interesting, chill and down to earth show meets batshit crazy show.

Krypton Keeper

Kyle Carrozza didn’t go to CalArts.

This has to be some witchcraft stuff.

Just kidding, I’m so happy he has a series, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

http://tresportfolio.tumblr.com/ Tres Swygert

I agree with your point that it needs to become a special event movie than a really long episode. However, some still feel like it’s a really long episode (like the recent Spongebob film – it didn’t feel like a movie at all, even though it was about saving The Krusty Krab and Bikini Bottom).

One example I felt did well as a movie and not as a long episode was A Goofy Movie. Sure, it wasn’t totally a Goof Troop film, but it had some of the main key characters from that show to make this film, and it wasn’t focused on saving the day like others.

Again, I agree with you that it needs to be felt that it’s a film event and not a long episode. I still feel the whole “saving the day” is getting old and overdone for animation alone.

Barrett

Goofy Movie was an under-appreciated masterpiece. Beautiful animation aside, the story and emotional resonance, along with the legit laughs, made it one of the best all-around animated films of the 90s. The straight-to-DVD sequel was pretty good too, though that got even less views/respect due to the venue (and the fact that it came out like 5 years after the first one.

Mermaid Warrior

I think the “save the world” thing is more common because it’s an easy way to up the stakes and have a big adventure. I never saw Goof Troop, but I saw the Goofy Movie, and I’m sure it worked. It had development, antics, and a long journey. The premise was big enough to make a movie, even if it wasn’t an epic, world-saving adventure.

Granted, it’s going to vary from show to show. Regular Show has lots of big, crazy antics and adventures, so I can see why they’d be more inclined to have a world-saving thing for the movie. The movie still needs to have bigger events and higher stakes, whether that means saving the world or just looking at emotional stakes.

Max C.

Haven’t watched Uncle Grandpa, and even if I did I wouldn’t care what it crossed over with. They originally concieved this as an April Fools joke, after all.

aquapyro

i have OnDemand but Sonic Boom is never on it.

Barrett

Welp, it’s your show to do with as you wish. Still, I can’t help but feel like this is one of the most incongruous crossovers of the decade, and that includes “Simpsons meet Family Guy.” I mean, the fanbase for these two shows is pretty different, to say nothing of the “internal realities.” It’s like having a Breadwinners/Gravity Falls crossover.

I think what is upsetting me most is that Uncle Grandpa may prove critical to a key element of Steven’s development as a gem & how that connects with his mother. That core is one of the reasons SU is such a special, magical show, and having Uncle Grandpa be a part of it (let alone a relative) just seems so….off. I will watch it, but I can’t say I’m looking forward to it.

Bob

5. My avatar is a pink horse.

http://acmereviewer.blogspot.com/ PinkiePie97

It’s Pinkie Pie from My Little Pony. She’s my favorite pony. One of the main reasons I didn’t mention was because it has nothing to do with this article. Id f you have a problem with it, fine. It’s your opinion.

Bob

Friendship is trully magic

Mermaid Warrior

Powerpuff Girls is the first show from my childhood that’s getting a reboot. (I don’t count Sailor Moon because that was an adaptation, and I consider the new series another adaptation) It’s a weird feeling. I might watch a few episodes out of curiosity, but unless it offers something new I won’t go out of my way to see it.

I am curious, will it has the same level of violence as the original show? Cause the violence was great. Not a lot of kid shows are willing to show blood.

Mermaid Warrior

Actually, pandas are a member of the bear family, but that’s a pretty recent thing so it’s not surprising not to know.

I too am iffy on the SU/UG crossover, for the reasons you stated.

Discovery Family is trying to be more of an educational network. The only entertainment-based shows they’re keeping are ones that were already running. Legacy status, I guess. They probably don’t want to air new things that don’t fit with DF.

David Zweig

Spell check is a gift and a crutch. Someone should remind CN peeps that it’s imperative to read as much as they write:

“…assembling a rouge team of young Autobot action heroes.”

Rouge…as in…red? Are they leaning toward communism?

Fuzunga

I doubt Craig McCraken would have anything to do with the Powerpuff Girls since he’s working on Wander at Disney.

BlueBoomPony

Rick & Morty? Season 2? Hello? Anyone?

How about giving Faust a shot with her Galaxy Girls? How many global phenomenons does a woman have to create to get a break?

AronDraws

Kyle’s last name is misspelled in the post tags. Needs a second z for Carrozza :)

Bob Nunes

Say, what about those theatrical cartoons (1965-68) that paired Daffy Duck with Speedy Gonzales?

Bob Nunes

Will this be this decade’s version of “Looney Tunes Meet The Groovie Ghoulies?”

Elaine Jensen

UG is a fine show on its own. But a crossover with SU is like… putting peas in a birthday cake.